I must admit, I needed to brush up on my list of villains. My first choice was Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, but I knew I had a more suited choice in mind. Love Michelle, but went for adorable Fairuza.

Oh yes, for those of you who haven’t seen The Craft yet, spoilers alert is on.

Who is Nancy Downs?

Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk) is a high-school outcast with a truly dark side. She forms a coven with her two unpopular friends, Rochelle (Rachel True) and Bonnie (Neve Campbell). Later on, joins Sarah (Robin Tunney), the new girl in school (also a natural witch) who’s soon rejected for false rumors of having sex with cool dude Chris.

Back to Nancy.

Nancy comes from mid-class poverty. She lives in a decaying caravan with her over the edge mom, Grace, and abusive step-father, Ray.

Nancy escapes to witchcraft and worships a powerful god named Manon. She embraces a gothic look and dark make-up, that perfectly accentuates her piercing blue eyes and makes her look like a badass occultist.

Needless to say, Nancy’s style is quite exceptional and she’s being ridiculed daily by her high-school peers. But… their hatred rather feeds her and induces an extremely vengeful nature, and she lusts for more power.

After an invocation of the spirits and calling the corners spell is completed, Nancy’s struck by lightning while the other three girls fall unconscious, only to wake-up and see their friend is walking on water, and that’s when things go south. Nancy adopts her new power to cause some serious damage to those who wronged her before, including Chris, who apparently has a rich resume of spreading false rumors on girls.

When Sarah starts to show disapproving signs of Nancy’s behavior, she immediately becomes a target. Nancy harasses her and invades her dreams. She even makes Sarah believe her parents died in a plane crash.

It’s a battle of forces between evil bitch Nancy and natural witch Sarah, and Ms. Downs ends up with a severe case of insanity.

I had a very long obsession with The Craft which I think only came to an end not too long ago. I’m a huge fan of Fairuza Balk, who is definitely the best choice for the role. She’s forever Nancy.

The Craft became my 90’s favorite for its awesome soundtrack too. Songs like Tomorrow Never Knows, How Soon is Now, and the Witches Song followed me all through my teens and made me endorse an attitude, followed by appropriate outfits, highly inspired by my dear Nancy.

Man I adore The Craft. Along with Charmed, it started my interest in the supernatural. Nancy is a fine character; the attitude, charisma and darkness are all employed excellently. Ans near the end, she is pretty ferocious.

Great post! Fairuza Balk did such a great job with this role that it’s hard to see her as anything other than creepy. Did you ever see her episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories? She tells a good ghost story too.

Oh, thank you!!! I watched it this morning after you suggested. Her story is CREEPY!! I kept on Googling haunted hotels and such, which got me reading on the Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King’s The Shining. You should check it out! 🙂

Nice review. But I won’t be watching this one. Like some of my compadres in the blogging world who have a puppy love/affection for certain actors and actresses, I have a crush on Fairuza Balk. She was the only light in an otherwise horrible movie “The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)” and made me wish I was Adam Sandler in “The Waterboy”. I don’t want to see her as a villain… but good review.

I wouldn’t worry. The Craft would probably will make you love Fairuza even more. It did it for me. She’s a villain indeed, but a very good one. So good, you have to appreciate her rather than dislike her. It’s like loving Michelle Pfeiffer for being THE BEST Catwoman. I completely get what you’re saying, but really, fear no Nancy, my friend. She’s Fairuza’s best.

I can’t believe I haven’t seen this. Heard of it, of course, but it’s one of those films you just think you’ll get to “someday”. Thanks for the intro (and spoiler alert…I read it anyway and it was worth it). 😉 So I’m wondering how much of her home life they showed. Was it a passing reference or was it a big part of the movie, living with abusive parents. (I’m only asking because I wrote my Villains post on when victims turn villain but it seems she really embraced the “villain” so…maybe not the sweet, little victim.)

Oh yes, The Craft is definitely a must see for any witch lover/black magic/magic lover/disturbed teen/outcast/goth, etc… out there. And Nancy is a true inspiration if you feel like letting your evil self out every now and then. I highly recommend it if you’re into 90’s high-school movies with a twist.

Nancy’s home life isn’t showed a whole lot in the movie, maybe 1 or 2 scenes, but it’s enough to figure out where she gets her dark nature from. So, to as you say, I guess it was more of a passing reference.

This is a such a 90s production, and all the better for it! The soundtrack is full of great stuff; even the songs I’m not keen on are still perfect evocations of the time. The attitude, the outfits, the makeup, and of course Fairuza Balk’s eyes! When she was born, her father took one look at her eyes and exclaimed “Firuze!” which is Farsi for “turquoise”.